As the date for the election of the prime minister approached, the situation gradually became clearer. With the help of donations, the Lishe controlled about 40 prefectures and counties, and persuaded some local gentry, Chen Dong was already able to firmly occupy the position of the fake prime minister, and the people from the prefectures and counties of Jingdong saw this situation, so they retreated to the second place, seeking the position of fake governor for Hou Huanyin, Chen Dong of course agreed, in this way, in the more than 100 states and counties that "respect the Son of Heaven and do not obey orders", there are enough eighty or ninety prefectures and counties that have stood on his side, which can be called the expectation of the public. In the previous month, the competition for state and county schools secretly provoked by the Science Society also brought a large amount of silver income to the government treasury of Ezhou. Under the confrontation between the two, the number of county students donated to the county increased by more than 3,000 people, and this alone has enriched the treasury of Ezhou with more than one million yuan of money and grain in a short period of time.

The big tent of the Baoyi Army's military mansion is raised high on all sides, and the soldiers who come and go can be seen from the tent. Huang Jian looked at the surrounding situation curiously, and finally his eyes fell on Zhao Xingde, who was making tea, and said with a smile: "Those rumors outside, Yuan Zhi must have heard them. ”

Zhao Xingde smiled: "I heard it, it's a good legend." Brought a cup of tea to Huang Jian.

Huang Jian nodded, and said thoughtfully: "The rumors are sinister, does Yuan Zhi plan to defend himself?" ”

Zhao Xingde shook his head and smiled indifferently: "Rumors stop at the wise, now those raps are in full swing, if the younger generations add distinction, the rumors will become more and more popular." After a while, the juniors will come out to clarify the matter. He sighed, "The big thing now is that the states and counties are going to elect fake prime ministers, Chen Shaoyang was roasted on the stove, and Mr. Huang made a special trip to visit, I think he came for this matter, right?" "How can he not know the sinister intentions of the rumors, but in the current situation, if he distinguishes that he is entering the game, and those who have a heart will add fuel to the fire, I am afraid that he will overpower Chen Dong's limelight, so before the prime minister, Zhao Xingde decided to remain silent.

Huang Jian looked at Zhao Xingde appreciatively, he nodded, shook his head again, and said, "The old man is here for the matter of donating his life. He frowned and said, "What Chen Shaoyang said, donating a life is an expedient measure. However, the rich and powerful rely on this to control the state and county, and the power is difficult to shake. What the old man is afraid of is that it is difficult to return to this matter, and Haoqiang can take the opportunity to run rampant in the township and control the prefectures and counties, just like the nine-product Zhongzheng system in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and ordinary people will never have a bright day. His words were full of worry, "Moreover, this system of donating lives blocks the progress of other scholars, which will inevitably cause criticism and dissatisfaction from other scholars. ”

Zhao Xingde nodded and said, "Mr. is reasonable. He came up with this idea for Chen Dong, but it was just to deal with the current situation, which was against his heart, and he was thinking about the gains and losses when he had a little free time these days. Just when Huang Jian came to visit, he said: "The younger generation thinks that in order to curb the disadvantages of donating students to elect officials, it is necessary to disperse the power of the state and county, and use the national law to restrain the local power. ”

"What do you mean by that?" Huang Jian's eyes showed a thoughtful look.

"The authority of the state and county is actually divided into two parts, one is to govern the locality, promote the good and eliminate the bad, and the other is to judge the case and decide the prison. The power of local state and county officials to decide cases can be separated, and the imperial court can set up another judge to judge cases, so that even if the county officials selected for donating their lives are somewhat biased, they will not let the people have nowhere to complain. ”

Huang Jian was suspicious: "The state and county have just been promoted, and another judge has been appointed, isn't it a reversal, I'm afraid that the state and county will not agree." ”

Zhao Xingde said slowly: "This matter can be done step by step, the imperial court will not mention the matter of setting up another judge, and only let the county school nominate another judge." There is an extra official position in the state and county, and the gentry must be more approving of it. If the state and county officials are powerful, at most they will elect other party members to serve as judges, and if the power is not big enough, I am afraid that the judges will be the ones who check and balance the state and county. The judges elected by the county school, over time, will inevitably have a lot of problems, over time, the people's grievances will arise, and after the people's grievances arise, and then take advantage of the situation by the prime minister to appoint a group of Dali Temple judges to go to the local area, receive the people's pleadings to review the unjust cases. These Dali Temple judges are stationed in the prefecture and county, and if the state and county judges are indeed corrupt and pervert the law, they will be directly punished by the Dali Temple judges. ”

Huang Jian thought for a moment and asked, "The three classes and six rooms of the county government, but some should be assigned to the judge?" If the judge does not have these subordinates, I am afraid he will not be the opponent of the county official. "The three classes and six room officials in the state and county actually play a great role, if you don't get the help of these people, it will be difficult for even the state and county to do things, let alone the newly established judges.

Zhao Xingde shook his head and said, "It is precisely to make the judge weak." If there is not much difference between the forces of the two sides, I am afraid that the judge will become another state and county official, and the vicious fight between the two is not conducive to governing the locality. If the judge's power is greatly weaker than that of the state and county, he only relies on the righteousness of the national law, so that the judge can be biased towards the side of the imperial court's national law. He muttered, "In this way, the powerful gentry can do less harm to the people." ”

After careful consideration, Huang Jian pondered: "The state and county officials are controlled by the judges, and the judges abide by the constraints of the national law, and there are judges from Dali Temple behind them, which is indeed a way. He looked at the soldiers walking back and forth in the distance, and secretly thought: "In this way, the state and county's containment of the prime minister is also greatly shared by the judge." In the long run, the local powerful forces focused on the prefectures and counties, freed themselves from the struggle for central power, and the party struggle in the imperial court could be slightly reduced. Although the prime minister cannot appoint prefectures and counties, the power in the center is not as constrained as before. I feel that the situation seems to have suddenly become brighter, and there is a place for strength up and down, unlike in the past, when we fought to the death in the center of the court, and in the end everyone achieved nothing. But what about the people? Will the people have a better life? Thinking of this, Huang Jian's brows couldn't help but furrow deeply and sighed.

............

The night was deep, the Yellow Crane Tower was still brightly lit, and Kong Zimu, the messenger from Jingdong and Jingdong Road, invited fifty or sixty states and counties to learn to sacrifice wine to the banquet. Kong Zimu represents Hou Huanyin, the pacification envoy of Jingdong Road. Chen Dong and Hou Huanyin respectively respected the Son of Heaven in Ezhou and Jingdong, and echoed each other from afar. It is privately rumored that this time Chen Dong made a fake prime minister, and Hou Huanyin pretended to participate in political affairs, and his position in dozens of states and counties on Jingdong Road was even more consolidated. The invited states and counties to learn to sacrifice wine, even if they are people in the science society, can't help but give Kong Zimu this face.

Kong Zimu is worthy of being the center of Hou Huanyin's curtain, full of friends, and in the midst of staggering, he takes care of every county school sacrificial wine very well. He observed and tested everyone's attitude towards Ezhou and Jingdong during his conversation, and quietly asked everyone to be careful that the Ezhou Prime Minister's Mansion interfered too much in the affairs of the state and county, and even set aside the state and county officials and county schools.

"Brother Wu's words are not groundless." An old man with gray hair and a rich gentleman said worriedly, "Now that the military power is in the Baoyi Army and the Zhenguo Army, and the grain and grass are in the Quartermaster House, if someone really wants to turn their faces and deny it, we will only have to be tied." He stretched out his hand and touched his head, and said with palpitations, "The Zhenguo Army is fine, especially those soldiers and ruffians of the Baoyi Army, they are really unreasonable." ”

His latter sentence caused a great resonance, and everyone nodded yes, and someone whispered: "Chen Dong just wants to be the prime minister, it's okay to say, have you heard the recent rumors?" According to me, Zhao Xingde didn't want to usurp the throne and become the emperor. The other man cautiously said, "Shhh ”

Kong Zimu listened to the eight directions and watched the six roads. Most of these states and counties who went to the meeting were not pedantic masters, but quite sophisticated people. On the one hand, these people hope that the Ezhou forces can resist the Liao army for them, and on the other hand, they do not want Ezhou to infringe on the interests of the state and county gentry, otherwise, they might as well simply throw themselves into Zhao Qi in Xiangyang. Compared with Chen Dong of the Science Society, Cai Jing, Li Bangyan and others are really too superb in the means of introducing party henchmen and looting places.

Seeing that the heat was suitable, Kong Zimu coughed, and pretended to be worried: "We elected the prime minister this time, but we didn't put the handle of the knife in someone else's hands. He bowed his hand to the north and said loudly, "The so-called whole world is not the king's land, the shore of the land, and the king's minister." Everyone respects the Son of Heaven, and the prime minister, like us, is just a courtier of the Son of Heaven, if he wants to do the things of the Son of Heaven in the name of the prime minister, then he is not a capable minister, but a rebel minister. Tell me, isn't that the truth? ”

Some people still don't understand the purpose of Kong Zimu's words, some people have solemn faces and don't dare to easily agree, and a few people say loudly: "Well said, we are just respecting the Son of Heaven, and we are not following the rebels to make trouble." Most of the people present were serious people, and after these people screamed a few times, it was difficult to continue, and their momentum weakened. Kong Zimu saw it in his eyes and thought secretly, it seems that Chen Dong's power and influence in the southeast is indeed not small, and Hou Gong asked Chen Dong to be the prime minister, not necessarily without the intention of roasting him on the fire, in this case, I will burn this fire more fiercely.

Kong Zimu coughed, cleared his throat and said: "Since Chen Shaoyang is expected to return, but as the saying goes, Lu Yao knows the horsepower, and he will see the hearts of the people for a long time. Let's nominate him as prime minister, and we can't do without a constraint. According to Mr. Huang Zhoushan, after the county school sacrificial wine is elected, it still has the right to impeach. However, Mr. Zhoushan only put forward a general idea of how to implement it, but there were no rules. All things are foreseen, and those who are not prepared are wasted. Ladies and gentlemen, how about we discuss a charter to bind the prime minister today? ”